Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 11,301 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 15.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,529 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 11,301 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $9,682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total transaction of $753,891.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,763 shares of company stock worth $2,637,564. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.09 on Friday, reaching $143.88. 1,180,160 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,014,299. The company has a market capitalization of $39.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The firm's 50-day moving average is $145.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.32.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $158.24.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.